Chapter 33: Safety Zone (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: Safety Zone (3)
I couldn't push Yura away as she greeted my arrival with a deep kiss. After a week, I felt her lips against mine again. When we finally pulled apart and created some distance, I could see her eyes.
"Do you want something?"
I asked, wondering if there was an ulterior motive behind the kiss, but Yura simply shook her head.
"No. I’m just glad to see you."
Kissing someone just because you're glad to see them... that’s something only lovers do, I thought. Then I realized I still hadn't given her an answer to her previous question.
It felt awkward to bring up the topic of officially dating right this second. Seeing as Yura wasn't pushing the issue either, it seemed she intended to wait until I was ready to answer. However, seeing how much the distance between us had closed, it felt like she had already made up her mind.
"I need to change."
"Go ahead. I’m going to organize the ingredients I need to take out."
In the past, Yura would have left the room first, or I would have waited until she was done with her task. But since we had already crossed the line once, there was nothing left to hide. I took off my shirt and changed into my uniform right in front of her.
Yura didn't look my way; as she said, she was busy double-checking the ingredients. It was a moment where I realized anew that we were no longer self-conscious around each other.
"Give it to me."
When I finished changing and Yura was about to carry a box out, I took it from her. In terms of raw strength, Yura was superior to me, but I felt that didn't matter. Yura handed me the box without a word.
"Ah, wait a second."
Just as I was about to leave the storage room with the box, Yura’s voice made me turn around. Since my hands were occupied with the box, she cupped my face with both of hers and kissed me once more.
"Let's get to work."
Then, with a beaming smile, she left the storage room first. I followed her out and began organizing the ingredients in the kitchen.
It was a relatively quiet weekend, which gave me plenty of opportunities to check on Yura’s condition.
I still hadn't heard the full story of how she spoke with the Boss and ended up working more at the cafe. My guess was that the Boss, being free of prejudice, had arranged things so Yura could stay here.
Still, the things Yura had heard and experienced wouldn't just vanish. I was worried that some change might have come over her while she worked, but surprisingly, she seemed no different than usual.
Well, if there was one difference...
"A."
"Yeah?"
While I was washing dishes, I turned my head at the sound of Yura’s voice as she brought over a tray of cups and plates. She set the tray down on the shelf next to the sink and kissed me again.
That was the one thing that had changed. Yura was kissing me at every turn.
She did it so often that it was hard to time anything, and if I tried to avoid her, she would use her physical strength to pull me in for the kiss anyway.
"What are you doing after work today?"
"I have some things to take care of. I have to go somewhere."
We settled into small talk again while I prepped fruit for the juice.
Since Yura had to keep her hands moving during this task, it was the one time it was difficult for her to kiss me.
"Really? I was going to ask if you wanted to grab a drink after work."
"You should've told me sooner. Is your phone just for decoration?"
"I figured you didn't have any friends, so I assumed you wouldn't have any plans."
Ouch. That hit a bit close to home. As Yura said, I didn't really have anyone I could call a friend. My relationships with the people at Spacetro were strictly those of close colleagues, and the last time I had someone I could call a friend was back when I was in space.
I’d be grateful if someone else considered me a friend, but if asked if I had a friend myself, I couldn't answer with confidence.
"Next time. Let's drink next time. And if you want to build a more diverse social circle, you should try having drinks with other people too."
It was a bit ridiculous for me to be the one talking about building social circles, but since she couldn't just drink with me forever, I wanted to encourage her to socialize with others. Like the members of Team Hunter Killer, for instance.
"And who exactly is supposed to handle me when I'm drunk?"
"..."
I couldn't answer that. Come to think of it, Yura’s energy was already high; who could possibly handle her when her tension became uncontrollable after drinking? Since I didn't know much about Hunter Killer, no one particular came to mind.
"Don't you drink with the Hunter Killer members?"
There was no point in just thinking about it, so I decided to ask.
"We don't. It's hard enough just to get everyone together for a meeting."
"Really? What about Green?"
Because of our encounter the other day, Green was the first one to pop into my head. I knew Yubin and Yura were getting a bit closer than before, so I didn't bring up Yubin, which led me to mention Green instead.
"...Why?"
When I mentioned a specific person, Yura stopped prepping the fruit and turned her head to look up at me. I felt her gaze, and a cold sweat seemed to run down my back.
"Just because. It's where you work so hard, so I was curious what the people there are like."
I looked away and went back to the fruit. The piercing sensation vanished, and my tension eased.
"Green is a bit of a space cadet. I don't know what she likes or even what she does."
"What about the others?"
"Red goes to school during the semester, and Blue takes care of her niece."
Yura, who was Pink, worked here, and no one knew what Green did.
"Then what about Yellow?"
"Yellow is also hard to read. How should I put it? She just doesn't talk much about herself."
Summarizing what I had gathered so far: Red was young but full of passion and leadership.
I didn't know Blue’s personality yet, but she seemed unable to attend Hunter Killer meetings often because she was busy with her niece. Pink was working at the cafe and had an overwhelming level of energy.
Green was dazed, and even her teammates didn't know what she did. Yellow went a step further and was so silent that there was virtually no information about her even among the team.
"Why? Are you interested?"
"Didn't I tell you before? How can I be interested when I don't even know what they look like?"
I said I didn't know their faces, but I was already dating Yubin, and I had met Green recently. In truth, I knew all their faces. Unlike Spacetro, Hunter Killer had been exposed to the media a few times, so finding photos of them online was easy.
However, since the entire team strictly refused interviews, there was no public information about them compared to other teams.
"I guess that's true."
"But it's a bit surprising. Even I, who have no interest in that sort of thing, know that Team Hunter Killer has been around for years. To think the members don't know much about each other..."
"That's because none of us have ever lived a life where we could rely on or lean on someone else."
My assessment of Hunter Killer was my honest opinion. The team had been formed three years ago, and they had been active with weekly duels ever since. The fact that the members didn't share even basic information about each other was surprising in many ways.
I turned my head at Yura’s response, wondering what she meant. Yura continued prepping the fruit with her head down, seemingly sensing my curiosity.
"Maybe not all Superhumans are like this, but at least in our team, everyone has lived a life of surviving and enduring alone. It's not so much that we don't lean on others, but rather... we don't know how to trust people."
Yura said they didn't know how to trust, but from what I saw of Yubin and Yura, it wasn't a lack of trust, but a lack of confidence in trusting and relying on someone. It felt like they didn't know the method because their lives as Superhumans had been isolated from ordinary people.
"Green and Blue say they live with their families, but family isn't always something you can trust. You know, those families that are worse than strangers?"
Looking at the news, there are plenty of "families" in the world that aren't really families—people who scam or commit crimes against their own kin, just as Yura said. But I had always felt those incidents were only a tiny fraction of the wide world.
Yura had been abandoned by her parents. Yubin still hadn't revealed to me that she was a Superhuman, so she hadn't really talked about her family, but it seemed they didn't live together.
"Even putting family aside, Superhumans face so much persecution. People call us monsters, tax thieves, say we're useless..."
Listening to her, I felt once again that I needed to conduct a thorough investigation into Superhumans.
"But it's okay now."
Her voice suddenly brightened. I looked over to see Yura wrapping her arms around my waist, leaning into me.
"Because I have A now."
She looked up and smiled, then closed her eyes and puckered her lips slightly as if asking for a kiss.
An awkward expression automatically formed on my face. I gave a sheepish laugh and popped a strawberry I had just hulled into her mouth.
"It doesn't look good to keep doing this at work."
"Mmph..."
She chewed the strawberry, looking at me with a dissatisfied pout. I glanced toward the counter to see if anyone was looking into the kitchen; fortunately, no one was watching.
Yura released her hold on my waist and went back to prepping ingredients.
"Then I'll do it after we're done."
Having received a warning that a barrage of kisses was coming after the shift, I finished my work.
*
After my shift ended, I headed to the Headquarters to check some data.
Immediately after we finished, Yura bombarded me with kisses just as she had promised. I managed to part ways with her safely after promising we'd do the rest tomorrow.
When I arrived at the Headquarters, I saw a few people who hadn't left yet and some on night duty. I stood in front of the elevator to go up to the third floor.
I was mentally organizing what I wanted to investigate when the elevator doors opened, and I ran into someone I wasn't exactly thrilled to see.
"?!"
Unable to hide my surprise at the sudden encounter with a familiar face, the woman inside the elevator frowned upon seeing me.
"What? Aren't you getting on?"
"No, I am. I'm getting on."
Lustrous long black hair and eyes that felt soft yet held a powerful intensity. This woman, who was currently sending a sharp gaze that felt like it was piercing right through me, was the person I felt most uncomfortable with in all of Spacetro.
I stepped into the elevator, pressed the button for the third floor, and waited for the doors to close.
Even though it would only take a moment to arrive, being alone in the elevator with her was incredibly uncomfortable.
"Coming back from somewhere? You're still here at this hour."
It was uncomfortable, but I had no reason to be intimidated by her, so I spoke up casually. She glared at me.
"You're going to burn a hole in my face."
"I just came by for a quick errand. What about you? It's not even your shift, so why are you here?"
"I've played around enough, so I figured I'd do some work."
"? You're working?"
She seemed quite surprised that I, who was usually nowhere to be found, was actually working. The intensity in her eyes softened slightly. Why can't she just look like that all the time?
Since the topic of work had come up, I decided to take this opportunity to ask her something I'd been meaning to. If she said no, so be it; I had nothing to lose.
"Actually, it's about that work. Could you lend me your Archive account?"
The space between her brows furrowed again as she glared at me. I knew I had kept my distance because of her position as a Team Leader, but I didn't think I'd done anything to deserve this kind of look... I must have made a huge mistake somewhere without realizing it.
"Why the account?"
"My Team Leader said no. I want to review some old records, but I don't have the clearance."
"...Come to the fourth floor."
"Really?!"
My voice brightened involuntarily at her agreement. She flinched slightly at my sudden reaction.
"Thanks, Seira. I knew I could count on a peer at a time like this."
Back when we were on the homeworld, she happened to live in the same neighborhood as me, happened to enlist in the same class, and happened to belong to the same branch even now. This was Seira, my long-time colleague. It had been months since we last spoke, but seeing her agree so readily, I suppose having a peer really is a good thing.
I pressed the third-floor button again to cancel it, and the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor.
"But what kind of investigation are you doing that requires old records?"
"I'm looking for early data from when Superhumans first appeared."
We entered the Team Leader's office. She sat at her desk and powered on her computer, and I sat in the chair next to her. I couldn't hide my joy at the fact that I was finally about to get the information I needed.